


(Im)balances

by mad_martha



Series: Two Households [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-28
Updated: 2011-05-28
Packaged: 2017-10-19 20:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/205059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mad_martha/pseuds/mad_martha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life ain't always fair, even for rich young First Rank purebloods ….</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Im)balances

"Where've you been?" James demanded, when Sirius swung into their office nearly fifteen minutes late.  "Moody's been in once already.  I had to tell him you'd got the trots and were in the bog again."

"Cheers, mate.  Had to get a paper."

Sirius tossed his cloak onto a hook by the door and spread his copy of the _Daily Prophet_ out across their shared desk.  His fingers automatically found a half-empty packet of Mordred Lights in his robe pocket and pulled them out, extracting a cigarette and lighting it with the tip of his wand as he scanned headlines and by-lines.

James sighed.  "Give us a drag, will you?"

Sirius's eyes never left the newspaper.  "I thought you gave up?"

"I did.  I just get a really bad craving sometimes." 

"Evans'll give you an ear-bending about it."   But Sirius held out the cigarette anyway.




"What she doesn't know she can't break her heart over.  Thanks."  James took a long pull on it and resolutely handed it back.  "What are you looking for in that old rag?"

"The Wizengamot Circular."

James gave his friend a cockeyed look.  "We work in the Ministry building, you twit.  Why don't you just check the board in the Atrium?"

"Because the _Prophet_ always gets hold of the juicy stuff before the Ministry staff, you know that.  It'll be tomorrow before the Resolutions get posted on the board."

"So?  What's the big deal?"

"The Family Law Committee sat last night."

"It'll be another eighteen months before your father can petition to have you formally Disinherited," James reminded him.

"Who gives a flying fuck about that?"  Sirius finally found the Circular.  "Look at that!  They hid it practically on the back page ...."

Perplexed, James leaned over his shoulder to look and followed Sirius's tracing finger.

 _"The Marriages (Common Magical Law) Act (Amended) 1977,"_ he quoted, perplexed.  "What's so interesting in that?"

"You're completely oblivious to some things, Prongs, aren't you?  I'll bet your old man could tell you why Moony and I are interested."

"He sits on that Committee."

"I _know_ , you pillock!  I know the names and political leanings of every member of that Committee.  Wake up, will you?"

The excitement in Sirius's voice finally reached James.  He took a closer look at the paragraph his friend was poking with a long fingertip.

 

 _Proposal: That the Act be amended to permit the union in Common Magical Law of those couples comprising two individuals of the same gender (not of the same blood, as defined under Section 86(a) of the Act), which union shall be equal, but not superior, to the state of spousal union ("Marriage") under Common Magical Law.  The resulting union shall be known in common parlance as "Handfasting" and include the attendant rights, responsibilities and privileges listed at Appendix A, Sub-Section C._

 _Proposer: M. Bagnold, Minister of Magic._

 _Supporters: P. Pettifer (Dept. Trade & Industry); H. Potter (Dept. International Affairs)._

 _Vote: Yeas - 6; Nays - 4._

 _Result: Passed._

 

"They passed it," Sirius said in a reverent tone.  "I don't believe it!  Only by two votes, but it was _passed!_ "

He let out a sudden whoop of joy and seized James in a suffocating hug, jumping up and down.  His cigarette dropped to the desk unnoticed and James's spectacles were knocked off in the excess of excitement.

 _"They passed it, they passed it, they passed it!"_

"Pads ...."

"Do you realise what this means?  We can get married!"

"Pads!" James wheezed.  "That's great - but I - can't - breathe ...."  A sudden sharp whiff of smoke galvanised him and he gave the exultant Sirius a shove.  "Pads, you prat, something's on fire!"

"Shit!"

The forgotten cigarette had landed on the newspaper and it burst into flames just as they realised what was happening.  Sirius grabbed a copy of the Auror Handbook to batter it with, while James groped for his spectacles with one hand and tried to cast the _Aguamenti_ charm with the other.  They were still mopping up water and scraping charred scraps of newspaper into the wastepaper basket when the door flew open and Senior Auror Alastor Moody stormed in.

"Black!" he bellowed.  "What do you think you're playing at?  I don't care if you have to change your underpants every five minutes in front of the Minister herself - you get your lazy arse down to my office _this minute!_ "

Sirius winked exuberantly at James - then leapt two feet into the air as Moody's heavy cane came crashing down onto the desk next to him, and bolted for the door.

"As for _you_ , Potter - "  Moody leaned in and smiled threateningly.  "Don't think Daddy'll get you out of having to get that report onto my desk _YESTERDAY!_ "

James winced at this harsh shout and nodded like a puppet until his superior left the room.  Then he let out a deep sigh of relief and massaged the back of his neck reflexively.

"Bloody hell, Padfoot," he muttered ruefully.  Then he re-ran the scene of Sirius's excitement over the newspaper article again and finally connected every last one of the dots.  Christ, he was losing his touch if he'd somehow missed that. 

"Bloody _hell_ , Padfoot!"

It was good news, of course.  It was _brilliant_ news.  But James couldn't help being grateful that Sirius was out of the room for a while ... just long enough for him to get over his fit of pique. 

It wasn't fair to Sirius and Remus to be miffed that they could get 'married' now, when he and Lily would have to wait.  Technically, of course, Sirius was still bound by the laws of the First Families, but everyone knew he had been disowned and since he was over 17 he would probably be able to get married without parental consent.  As one of the 'Five Thousand', Remus didn't have to ask for parental consent as he was fully of age already. 

But for James and Lily it was another matter; James still had to get his father's consent until he was 21 and Henry Potter had already kindly but firmly squashed any hopes of an early wedding.  He wanted them to wait and since he was James's _paterfamilias_ , with near-total control over James's life until he was 21, he would have his way.

James already wondered if Lily was waiting for him to ask.  It was difficult to tell with her, but she didn't seem discontented with the current meandering pace of their relationship, although he felt sure it seemed a little odd after the strenuous efforts he'd gone to to attract her interest in the first place.  Then there had been all the little trials-of-fire - the dinner parties with his parents' friends and the two Christmases she'd spent at The Rose House, where she'd run the gauntlet of anything from pureblood indifference to First Family rage at her unworthy Muggleborn status, and the outright threats made by some of the purebloods they'd gone to school with.  Not to mention his own difficult introductions to everyone from her sister's fiancé to her distant aunts and uncles - some of whom seemed almost as disapproving of him as his mother's sniffy relatives had been of Lily, and James couldn't imagine why they should be.

There had been the money arguments, the status arguments, the question of careers, the differences in their friends; the score of little differences that inevitably popped up when two people of vastly differing backgrounds tried to combine their lives.  Lily had once told him that the Muggle idea of magic generally started with how it would solve all problems and developed from there.  James had been perplexed by this idea. 

"Magic isn't easy," he'd said.  "I always thought that not having magic would maybe make things simpler."

His father had overheard the conversation.

"The question of what magic may and may not do, my boy, is the root of all differences between wizards and Muggles," he'd said, looking at the two of them over the top of his spectacles.

The idea that such attitudes could be a defining part of their relationship bothered James.  It didn't make him want to marry Lily any less, though.

And for Sirius and Remus it should have been even harder.  It wasn't just a question of class and blood differences, but the fact that they were both male and one of them was a werewolf.  But the class differences had been swept away when Sirius left home, the fact that Remus was a werewolf had bound them together more securely than any legal document, and the question of gender and sexuality had just been rendered negligible by James's father casting his vote in the Wizengamot.

 _Not fair_ , the spoilt little voice of James's childhood said in his head.

"Life isn't fair," the grown man said out loud, and he pulled himself together, making himself put the matter to the back of his mind. 

Reports had to be written.  Life had to go on. 

 **  
_\- finis -_   
**


End file.
